Article IV. On Jurisdiction over Religious.

347. Prenotions. The terms which the Code of Canon Law uses in this matter must be premised.¹

A religion is a society approved by ecclesiastical authority, in which public vows, perpetual or temporary, but to be renewed when the time has elapsed, are emitted.

An order is a religion in which solemn vows are emitted.

A religious congregation is a religion in which only simple vows (whether perpetual or temporary) are emitted.

A religion is called clerical if most of the members are increased with the priesthood; otherwise it is called lay.

A religious house is a house of a religion in general; a religious is one who emits vows in some religion.

A regular house is a house of an order; a regular is one who emits vows in some order.

A formed house is one in which at least six professed religious dwell, of whom in a clerical religion at least four are priests.

Major superiors are Abbots, Generals, and Provincials, and others having power after the manner of provincials.

¹ Cf. Cn. 488.

348. Principles. 1. Ordinary jurisdiction over religious themselves is had: a. in an exempt religion by the superior and the ordinary of the place;¹ b. in a non-exempt religion by the ordinary of the place alone.²

2. Delegated jurisdiction for absolving religious can be granted, with respect to an exempt religion, both by the superior and by the ordinary of the place, and indeed by each to priests both secular and religious, even of another religion; with respect to a non-exempt religion, by the ordinary of the place alone.³

In actual fact, all priests, both secular and regular, who are furnished with the jurisdiction of their own ordinary, can in their own territory validly and licitly absolve any religious whatever, even exempt, even from reserved cases (n. 341).

3. Concerning the confessors of religious these things have now been established:

a. In individual houses of a clerical religion, according to the number of members, several confessors must be deputed with power, if it concerns an exempt religion (which can have its own reserved cases), of absolving even from reserved cases.⁴ In lay religions an ordinary and extraordinary confessor must be constituted, and if a religious asks for some special confessor, the superior must grant him, without inquiring into the reason of the petition or showing that he bears it ill.⁵

These confessors are constituted: a. in an exempt clerical religion by the superior; b. in an exempt lay religion the superior proposes the confessor, to whom the ordinary of the place confers jurisdiction; c. in non-exempt religions the ordinary of the place constitutes them.⁶

b. The superiors themselves can hear the confessions of subjects who spontaneously and freely ask this, but without a grave cause they should not do this habitually. They should also beware lest either by themselves or through another they induce any subject by force, fear, importunate persuasion, or any other reason, to confess with them.⁷

c. A religious, even an exempt one, for the peace of his conscience, can approach a confessor approved by the ordinary of the place, even if he is not among the designated confessors; this confessor can validly and licitly absolve the religious, even from sins and censures reserved in the religion.⁸

Therefore any religious can approach any confessor approved by the ordinary of the place, whether secular or religious of the same or another order, both at home and outside the house and on a journey, whether the superior consents or resists, and can be absolved by him validly and licitly, even from reserved cases, without any burden to be fulfilled afterward.

4. With respect to novices. a. According to the number of novices, one or several ordinary confessors are to be constituted for them, who should dwell in the novitiate house itself if this is clerical, or at least frequently approach to hear the confessions of the novices if it is lay.

b. Besides the ordinary confessors, some confessors are to be designated whom the novices can freely approach in particular cases.⁹

c. At least four times in the year an extraordinary confessor is to be given to them, to whom all should approach at least to receive a blessing.¹⁰

d. The master of novices and his associate should not hear their confessions habitually, unless the novices spontaneously request this in particular cases from a grave and urgent cause.¹¹

5. With respect to domestics. By force of jurisdiction granted by the superior of the religion alone, even the households of regulars can be absolved.

a. Therefore the doubt, namely whether boarder pupils who live in monasteries or colleges under the discipline of regulars pertain to the households of regulars, whom regulars can absolve in confession by their own power, has now been solved, because Cn. 514, 1 also simply numbers pupils among households.

b. The jurisdiction of regulars over boarder pupils lasts as long as their subjection under the discipline of regulars lasts. Therefore during the time of vacations or a journey they cannot be absolved by regulars if at that time, now exempt from the discipline of regulars, they have again been given back to the care of their parents or others.

¹ Cn. 501. - Cn. 873, 2. - Cn. 874, 1.

² Cn. 500.

³ Cn. 874; 875, 1.

⁴ Cn. 518.

⁵ Cn. 528.

⁶ Cn. 875; 529.

⁷ Cn. 518, 2, 3.

⁸ S. C. de Religiosis, 5 Aug. 1913. Cn. 519.

⁹ Cn. 566, 3.

¹⁰ Cn. 566, 4.

¹¹ Cn. 891.